Gary

I have been using Chrome for a couple years with no problems. The past couple of weeks it has been freezing once in a while. I Googled best 2017 browser and Chrome was number one with Opera in second place. I gave Opera a try and am surprised at how fast it is and no hangups yet. It worked out good for me because my surveillance cameras won't work with Opera so I am still using Chrome for my default. I leave the cameras on but minimized and Opera for browsing. Just a click back to Chrome and I can see the cameras without reloading them.

Some guys like the Songkran insanity. A good friend of mine always came over during that time. The last time he did that, I told him that if he ever comes over during that madness, he is on his own. During the holidays is good but prices for everything are at their highest.

I designed and built my solar systems myself with help from the Internet. I should add that a lot of information on the net is pure bullshit. Kind of like the experts on Thai Visa. That said, there is valuable information there but you have to carefully sift through it. I was warned repeatedly that the Chinese components were junk. It appears that the overpriced western manufacturers convinced the prospective buyers that their products were worth more than double the price. I did listen to some of the posters but still bought the Chinese components. I bought spares so when the original compone

One of the benefits of living out in the boonies is that we will never go hungry. We drink rain water and have a fiberglass tank the holds 1,500 liters. We have enough chickens for eggs and to eat. Probably 40 or 50 chickens and a few ducks. Solar power is plenty for a freezer, lights and fans. There is probably a ton of rice stored in the garage/workshop. If we should run out of LPG for the BBQ and normal cooking, the wife has several big burlap bags full of charcoal. We also have several ponds for fish provided the locals don't steal all the fish. The wife quit gardening because the local fr

Squirrel Problems The Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrels. After prayer and consideration, they concluded the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn't interfere with God's divine will. At the Baptist Church , the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistery. The deacons met and decided to put a water slide on the baptistery and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels liked the slide and, unfortunately, knew instinctively how to swim so twice as many squirrels showed up the following week. The Methodist Church dec

Things like that make me even more happy that my computer room runs off solar. My printer and router also run of the solar system I have TOT fiber Internet but the steel cable is not attached to the router, only the fiber cable. Other electronic and electric appliances are vulnerable but no problems for the past ten years. My grid electric supply is now the worst it has ever been. Very frequent outages. Some for a few seconds or minutes and others for hours. It is an everyday occurrence. At least my computer room has fans, lights and of course my computer and related equipment. Good luck

Makes me wonder who decided on a tunnel. An overpass needs minimal maintenance and would have been much cheaper. TIT!

I also know nothing about Apple. I do know that every Android phone I have ever had has the option to turn off data. Since Apple is supposed to be the ultimate phone, I'd be shocked if you could NOT turn off data. If data cannot be turned off, I'd certainly buy another phone. Service providers will usually give you the option to turn off data if you call and ask them, or do it yourself. AIS code to turn off data is *129*2# then the call button.

Go Go bars can be dangerous if you don't pay your bill. Of course most farangs are not that stupid.

I never had any intention of renting out my condo. At one time I did rent it out to a friend of mine. Since he was a friend and a dependable guy the rent was in my bank account every month right on time. During that time I discovered that I missed the place when I went back for visits, especially during high season when hotels were full and rates were high.I'm not wealthy by any means but I am able to live exactly as I want with a surplus from my pensions every month. If I sold the place, what would I do with the money? No way would that affect my lifestyle and I would lose my way of changing

I view paying rent as a total waste of money. That said, buying a condo in your own name is pretty safe. I never viewed my condo as an investment. I bought mine when there were 41 baht to a dollar. I no longer live in the condo and I don't rent it out. I like it there when I want a change of scenery. It also serves as a security blanket for me. After more than ten years with my Thai wife, it's not likely that she will throw me out but one never knows. I could be out of her house within a day. I will always have a roof over my head and certainly won't miss any meals. How do you put a price

I got priced out of my health insurance policy here. That means that I am self insured. I have money in the US in case I should have any major medical problem. There is more there than the limits of the policy that I had. I only have a son in the US. He has done well for himself and certainly needs nothing from me. If I don't have any serious medical problems, he will inherit that money. One never knows what the future will bring so having that nest egg is comforting to me.

Here upcountry, it's mostly the kids having water fights. It is amusing to me seeing them having such a good time. I had all the car windows rolled up tight and I got a number of free car washes. The only thing that really irritated me was some of the older boys throwing some sort of white powder mixed with water. It's a good thing that I had plenty of water in my windshield washer. The mix was so thick that it was impossible to see through the windshield. Nothing funny about that. Of course some of the older kids, male and female, were drinking heavily, stumbling around and dancing on the roa

Back in the old days a group of us would go on a nice long ride on Sunday afternoons. I was seriously thinking about buying a Harley Sportster to fit in better with the boys. They made fun of my Honda rice burner. Sanity got the best of me and I ended up with a BMW shaft drive. I fondly remember the guys wanting to swap their Harley with me just until the next gas stop or until the feeling came back to their numb hands. Those little Harley gas tanks did not give the hogs much range. The BMW had a huge ugly gas tank but I could ride several weeks with one tankful. I ever had the desire for a hu

I got another surprise from selling out my retirement fund. I thought I had good information regarding income taxes. At age 71 I thought that money would be tax free. This just shows that the fund manager did NOT do his job. He had told me that there would be no tax penalty. I paid over $1,500 dollars income tax on the funds. When I asked the fund manager, he said there was no penalty but that I had to pay regular income tax. Had he told me that, I could have taken it out over several years and not paid any tax. Then again, there would have been fees for each withdrawal. At least I'm done with

Hmmm, that's where I went wrong. I bought high and sold low.

Very old thread but an interesting topic.

I wouldn't be at all interested in buying a derelict unit. Too many headaches and potential headaches. It is much safer to buy a unit that you can put the key in the door, turn on the lights and see if the toilet flushes. Check how the electric is billed and how much the monthly maintenance will cost you. Most complexes will allow you to look at the books and check the balance of the fund. Maybe the most important thing is to make sure the unit can be in your name. I know guys who bought off plan and when it came time to get the chanote, they were told that the farang allotment was used up

A 500,000 baht condo is not really that bad if you can stand to live in a shoebox. You can live there several years and you will probably be able to sell it for what you paid for it. Much better investment than paying 1.5 million for 30 square meters.

When I first retired, I bought health insurance. The company I bought it from had a clause that said they would never cancel me because of age. They said nothing about pricing me out and reducing my coverage. They even added a deductible, If I remember correctly it was the first 20 percent that I would have had to pay. At age 65, I cancelled the policy because of the outrageous premiums and they had reduced the maximum payout to 1.25 million baht. I can pay that much myself. I might add that I had one claim and that was appendicitis. Now at age 72, I am way ahead of the game. I do have a nest

After I retired, I really had no realistic idea how much I was going to spend. I had lived here more than five years but the company I worked for furnished everything including my utilities and a car. After I retired, I kept a very detailed spread sheet and kept track of every baht, even baht bus fares. I lived exactly like I wanted to. My entertainment category was by far my biggest expense and if necessary that was where I could have easily cut back. Fortunately I didn't have to cut back. After several months of keeping the spread sheet, I decided that I could use some of my savings to b

Unfortunately the immigration office you will be forced to use will simply be the luck of the draw. You can have a friendly officer or you can get an asshole. When I first used the Loei immigration office, I had the income letter from the US Embassy. That officer didn't like those letters. He had me make another trip to Bangkok to have that document "legalized".I had to take the document to Laksi in Bangkok. I had never heard of anyone having to do that. That old asshole then told me straight out that some people lie. He told me that if I had 800,000 in a Thai bank account, things would go a l

Looks like too many farangs to suit me. Beautiful but too touristy.

The 800,000 baht in the bank is not dead money. In fact immigration likes to see you using that money for living expenses through the year. You just have to make sure you top up the bank account three months before your extension expires. The first year that I used the 800,000 baht requirement, I didn't touch the money. The first question immigration had was "where did you get the money to live"? Fortunately I had another bank account that I used for living expenses. That satisfied them. You are better off using that deposit money throughout the year.

When I was 13, I hoped that one day I would have a girlfriend with big tits. When I was 16 I got a girlfriend with big tits, but there was no passion, so I decided I needed a passionate girl with a zest for life. In college I dated a passionate girl, but she was too emotional. Everything was an emergency; she was a drama queen, cried all the time and threatened suicide. So I decided I needed a girl with stability. When I was 25 I found a very stable girl but she was boring. She was totally predictable and never got excited about anything. Life became so dull that I decided that I needed a gir